Gene Durand was recently honored by the Pipeliners Association of Houston by receiving the Pipeliner of the Year Award for 2024. Gene has served as Morris P. Hebert, Inc.’s (MPH) Senior Vice President of Houston Operations since 1998.
Gene started his career in the pipeline industry 50 years ago. He took his first position in the industry in 1974 with Trunkline working in the Survey & Mapping Group. Gene was an integral part of the management team overseeing the Design, Engineering, Survey, & Mapping of the offshore to onshore Stingray Natural Gas Pipeline System. The Stingray system was the largest and most complex in the Gulf of Mexico at the time. This system helped alleviate the Natural Gas shortage plaguing the US in the 1970’s.

After the Stingray Project was complete, Gene pursued another opportunity with Eagleton Engineering. During his first few years at Eagleton, he worked closely with the founder and owner Mr. Norm Eagleton on several high-profile projects. Gene was part of the management team at Eagleton who engineered, designed, surveyed, and mapped the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) Project. LOOP was America’s first and only deep‐ water crude oil port. This project was the first of its kind and was a critical addition to America’s crude oil transportation and storage infrastructure. Gene also worked alongside Mr. Eagleton while he developed the world’s first onshore “Slug Catcher”. During the development of these revolutionary onshore facilities, Gene and Mr. Eagleton shared many intense and anxious moments as they tested and received the first offshore slugs to the onshore slug catchers. Gene remained at Eagleton for 20 years working all over the continental US. He was instrumental in the completion of thousands of miles of offshore, nearshore, and onshore pipeline projects during these two decades.
After his time with Eagleton, Gene pursued a new venture and started another chapter in his career. Gene started the Texas Operations of MPH in the fall of 1998. MPH’s Texas Operations started with Gene in a single office working tirelessly to build and expand MPH’s operations in the state of Texas. Gene began to rapidly grow the business and client base with his many years of experience and knowledge. He began to hire, train, and mentor employees as MPH Texas Operations began to expand and take on more project work. During his career at MPH, Gene has been on the leading edge of some of the most complicated pipeline projects across the US. engineering, designing, surveying, & mapping in dangerously complex and highly industrialized areas.
Incredibly challenging and high-risk projects have become Gene’s expertise. He is also well known for his intimate knowledge of pipelines in the congested corridors of Mont Belvieu and southeast Texas. He has been involved in the routing, design, and construction of many pipelines in this area. Throughout his career he has also designed hundreds of HDD (Horizontal Directional Drill) installations. Many of these HDDs were highly complicated and pushed the current boundaries of the HDD industry with longer drill lengths and more complex designs. He has successfully and safely completed several hundred projects while at MPH.
During Gene’s 50-year career in the pipeline industry he has worked on countless projects and completed thousands of miles of pipelines all over the US. Gene has done this with the safety and wellbeing of his employees, clients, and fellow industry members being paramount. He takes pride in the fact that all the personnel on his projects go home safely to their families. Throughout his career Gene has made it his responsibility and goal to impart as much of his knowledge and experience as possible to help the generations that are coming up behind him. To this day, Gene continues to work daily mentoring, teaching, and assisting his employees, clients, and industry members in the pipeline business.
Congratulations to Gene on this well-deserved honor, recognizing him for his service to the pipeline industry.